This article is a joke. Basically saying "hey be happy you don't own a home if you want one". Piss off.
this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
-5 points (39.1% liked)
News
23264 readers
3237 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
I think it does describe some real problems. But the implied solution of forcing more people into the serfdom-like rental market is far worse than the problems they outline.
These problems become small when housing is affordable, so that seems the best policy to pursue. When everyone can easily afford a home, the decision of when to rent or buy can depend on personal preference and circumstance without the distortions created by housing as an investment vehicle.
Basically saying “hey be happy you don’t own a home if you want one”
What parts of the article gave you that impression? The article points out that property ownership has "become the primary means of American middle-class wealth creation" and "homeownership has created a class of winners". Neither of those support your summary.
What got from the article is that property ownership is the primary type investment for Americans and home owners have little to no financial incentives in selling their homes but rather their in seeing housing and rental prices continue going up.
I think the problem is the rate isn't high enough. Too many homes are owned by people who already have a home and are using their second, third, fourth homes as sources of income while their primary home is seen as their retirement plan. At the same time, the people who own extra homes are opposed to building high occupancy buildings to create cheaper housing in the same area. You have corporations buying up hundreds of houses only to rent them out. Those get taken off the market, which raises the cost of houses in general.
If you stop corporations from owning single family homes and duplexes, stop foreign investors from buying real estate at all, place a very high tax on owning more than 2 houses, and place higher taxes on short term rentals like Airbnb then you will drop the value of houses by a ton while also generating tax funds that could build high occupancy buildings for lower rent values. Too many people have the ability pay for affordable houses but can't, because too many homes are owned as income for either people or corporations.
I already know the answer from conservatives to this one: "SoCiaLisM"
Yeah, but it sucks because it is kind of anti-socialism. It is saying houses belong to individuals, not the state or corporations. However, it does have the flavor of common people seizing the means of production from the bourgeois.
The argument is mostly valid. But the real point is that capital gains tax needs to change. That would solve the stated problem, without reducing home ownership.
As a result, a majority of the population is literally invested in seeing the value of homes always go up.
This is actually not true. In general, ome owners do not benefit from global house price increases.
Yeah they do. Home equity is a powerful tool.
How do you mean "a powerful tool"? Tool for what?
Collateral, mainly
Oh like a security for further borrowing? Could be.
HELOC loans are a big one
Also reverse mortgage can serve as a supplement or even substitute to retirement savings
It's a financial tool that you can utilize
The self fulfilling prophecy of the housing market is that people who own homes tend to have more wealth and vote in higher numbers. Politicians don't want to piss them off, home prices can't be perceived to be attacked.